Movie Review - The Terminal
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2004 / 128 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz
I loved this movie. Really, I loved it. But I won’t delude you that it achieves perfection. Much as I love it, it’s got a couple minor defects that keep me from recommending this film as whole-heartedly as I might have otherwise. As it is, it feels like a great movie that just needs another pass through the hands of an editor. Then again, a lot of Spielberg’s most recent films have felt that way. “A.I.” was a magnificent, riveting science fiction wonder…until the final act when things started to go awry. “Minority Report” was a bleak, ballsy, exciting bit of fiction…until the denouement that I thought could’ve been a bit more spectacular. And now we have “The Terminal”, which is a more intimate and character-driven film from Steven Spielberg, like the best of his most recent work (“Catch Me if You Can”) and yet still carries the modern Spielberg curse of just not knowing when to quit.
But first, let me extol the virtues of the film, lest I turn you away from it entirely, which is certainly not my attention. If nothing else, this is one of the most intelligent films currently unspooling at national multiplexes and it definitely deserves your consideration. The film is the story of Viktor Navorsky (Tom Hanks) a man visiting New York from a tiny country that I believe was once a part of the Soviet Union. He arrives at a New York airport just as his country’s government has been overthrown in a violent coup. Thanks to the fact that his country no longer technically exists, a web of red tape has suddenly come to surround Viktor. His passport is invalid. Hence he cannot progress forward to New York City and he cannot go home. He is a man without a country, and he can only live in the airport terminal until this whole mess gets sorted out. Unfortunately, his country remains in a state of flux for nearly a year.
In this time, we get to know Viktor very well and we get to see him adjust to the situation he is suddenly trapped in. He makes friends with the denizens of the airport, including a baggage handler (Chi McBride), a food service worker (Diego Luna), a beautiful immigration worker (Zoe Saldana) and a crotchety old janitor (Kumar Pallona). It’s a slight, heart-warming little tale that is mostly saved from degenerating into sappiness by the strength of the performances and the general ingenuity of its script. The film bounces lightly along and even manages to touch tangentially on a few sticky subjects as it goes. Despite the fact that this is a slight tale, Spielberg seems to be relishing it, and it is definitely a change of pace for the filmmaker. Steve has never quite done a movie like this before, and it’s interesting to see what Spielberg makes of what is essentially a low-key comedy in one single setting and a showcase for its leading man.
And, of course, that leading man does a brilliant job. The great thing about Tom Hanks, and the reason that I think he’s the best actor movies have ever had, is that he can make us forget that he is Tom Hanks so damn effortlessly. Every role has his unmistakable stamp upon it, but since the early Nineties I have began to notice that Tom Hanks performances are sort of like snowflakes: no two are ever the same. In “The Terminal” Tom makes you forget that he is the biggest movie star in the world and instead has us completely convinced that he is just a lowly foreign man trapped in an airport. His accent is spot on and his facial expressions are priceless. In a way, his performance reminded me of silent movie comics, especially toward the beginning of the film where his character knows no English. Even when he learns English, however, his character is mostly displayed in what he does and how he does it, what we see him learn and in the little triumphs he makes along the way. It’s not hard at all to imagine Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin doing much the same with this role as Hanks does, and if that isn’t immense praise, I don’t know what is. It’s a simple comic film and it lives or dies based on Hanks’s performance. Because of him, it definitely lives.
The other truly great performance in this film belongs to Kumar Pallona. Kumar should be familiar to all of you who’ve seen “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” (and even “Bottle Rocket”, where he was the safecracker). He’s a little, old Indian man with a very thick accent and a very distinctive look to him. He is absolutely great as the suspicious, devious and crotchety janitor in the airport. The scene where he watches people slip on the floor he has just washed should be enough to have you eating out of the palm of his hand. Along with Hanks, Kumar gives this film a wealth of heart, but he doesn’t do it in any obvious, hamfisted way. He’s a sly one, our Kumar, and he’s a glory to behold here. But everyone in the cast is largely wonderful. I’m not usually a huge fan of Catherine Zeta Jones, but she is perfectly cast here. My only qualms with her are in the way that her character is written. There is an arc given to her character which I enjoyed, until the film did a complete 180 and had her go right back to the way she had been for very shaky reasons. Sure, it might be realistic that her character would do as she did, but this isn’t exactly a film where realism is a prerequisite. By the end of this film, we have expected the unexpected and the whimsical, and what is done with her character, especially after the film has done so much to earn another life for her, seems like something of a slap in the face. I liked her too much to see her continue in the rut she had made for herself. I wanted her to have the life she would’ve had with Tom. But oh well. That’s one of my minor quibbles.
Also perfectly cast in this film is Stanley Tucci, as the hard-hearted head of Homeland Security within the airport. He’s a great foil for Hanks’s character, and Tucci turns in a great performance, but I felt that the film went a little too far in making him a villain. It would’ve been more effective if he’d been a little more human. I doubt anyone would do some of the things Tucci devises to do to Hanks in this film, at least I hope not, otherwise I am totally against Homeland Security, no matter how many buildings explode. But the supporting cast led by Kumar and enhanced by the lovely performances of especially Zoe Saldana and Diego Luna really shine through in this movie. And the script is largely clever and witty and filled with human sentiment. Except for a couple mistakes it makes with the characters played by Tucci and Zeta Jones, of course, and the fact that it has the perfect ending and then goes on for another five minutes. The last five minutes aren’t really necessary and I would’ve preferred it if the film had been a bit more open-ended. Hence, my claim that this film suffers from the same affliction as most of Spielberg’s recent efforts (except for “Catch Me If You Can”, which was above reproach).
But even with its occasional rough patches, “The Terminal” is a great movie with some truly great performances and a lot of heart and ingenuity. It makes the most of its limited setting and its small cast of players and it had me completely riveted for the entire length of its running time. But if you’d rather watch a bunch of idiots getting smacked by dodgeballs, then I guess that’s your funeral.
